SC takes note of Rajasthan govt's plea, seeks response of two acquitted in bus blast case

The Supreme Court sought the response of two persons on Monday on an appeal filed by the Rajasthan government, challenging their acquittal in a 24-year-old case of a bomb blast in a bus in Dausa district's Samleti in which 14 people were killed.

A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant took note of the Rajasthan government's appeal against the acquittal of Javed Khan and Abdul Goni in the case and issued notices to them.

The state government was represented by senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi.

On July 23 last year, the Rajasthan High Court had acquitted six persons, including Khan and Goni, who were undergoing life imprisonment in the case after being held guilty by the trial court.

The high court, however, had upheld the death sentence of Abdul Hamid and the life term given to Pappu alias Salim in the case.

The six convicts freed by the court included five Jammu and Kashmir natives -- Khan, Goni, Latif Ahmed, Mohammad Ali Bhatt and Mirja Nissa Hussain.

The sixth convict who was acquitted, Rais Beg, is from Agra in Uttar Pradesh.

The high court had upheld the death penalty awarded to Hamid, saying he was the key person behind the planting of the bomb in the bus going to Bikaner from Agra on May 22, 1996.

It had also upheld the life term awarded to Pappu alias Salim, holding him responsible for supplying the explosives.

Prior to this, a trial court at Bandikui in Dausa had awarded death penalty to Hamid and life terms to seven others in the case.

All eight were convicted by the Bandikui sessions court for various offences under the Indian Penal Code, the Explosives Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act.

The blast had taken place in a state roadways bus, killing 14 people and inuring 37 others.